


Low Beneath The Foam

by PumpkinPie (Bulsara)



Category: I Don't Know How But They Found Me (Band), My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - No Band, Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, Domestic Violence, Epic Friendship, Falling In Love, Fear of Death, M/M, Merman Dallon, Merman Gerard, Merman Mikey, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-22 15:27:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16600595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bulsara/pseuds/PumpkinPie
Summary: Have you ever seen a mermaid? Not just on TV or in pictures, but a breathing, living creature? Most people believe that they belong into the realm of fantasy, but so much of the oceans is still unmapped, unobserved and unexplored. What if somewhere down there a whole world is hidden, that humans are unaware of?My take on the Disney movie. I hope it makes a bit more sense than the original <3





	1. Best Friends Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I don't own anything but my own imagination.
> 
> Title from "Oceans" by FIATP.

Have you ever seen a mermaid? Not just on TV or in pictures, but a breathing, living creature? Most people believe that they belong into the realm of fantasy, but so much of the oceans is still unmapped, unobserved and unexplored. What if somewhere down there a whole world is hidden, that humans are unaware of?

 

As a matter of fact, merfolk do exist, but they have long since learned that there is no deadlier, more vile creatures in this world than men with nets, harpoons and fishhooks. Hence why they stay away from humans and live in caves, at the bottom of deep trenches or in the middle of coral reefs.

 

However, neither are they just humans with fishtails, nor do they wear shells as bikini tops. They are actual creatures of the sea and as such well adapted to their habitat. Their skin is of a grayish color, much like a dolphin’s or a shark’s. They have long, sharp claws and wicked, pointy teeth, that grow back if they lose them. The overall appearance of their upper bodies loosely resembles that of a human, but there are gills high on the sides of their necks and webbing between their fingers. Thick, hard spikes cover their heads instead of hair, that usually match the color of the scales, that cover their lower half from the waist down and ultimately give way to elegantly curved fins. Never forget that mermaids are predators. They are highly intelligent and deadly as sharks, they can easily rip you apart.

 

~~~

 

The year was 1977 (not that merpeople cared for dates and time) when a boy with deep blue scales was born somewhere off the coast of New Jersey. Little Gerard grew up to be a happy child. Three years later his mother placed his newborn brother in his arms and thus began the most beautiful and deepest of friendships. Their parents had named him Michael, but Gerard outright refused to even try and pronounce such a difficult name. Mikey it was. His scales were still pale, he couldn't even open his eyes yet, but Gerard held him close and swore to always be the bestest of brothers to him.

 

The two were inseparable. Soon Mikey's tail and fins grew stronger and turned a bright red, so that he could chase after his brother through the caves and corals, that were their home. As they grew older, they took up collecting their favorite seaweed and hunting for fish, as all merpeople eventually do.

 

Every now and then they would socialize and spend some time with others their age, Patrick and Pete from a few caves down being the closest thing they had to friends. But for the most part Gerard and Mikey kept to themselves, they simply needed no one but each other.

 

One day in 1990 their mother didn't come home from a hunting trip. Dozens of people helped look for her, but no trace of her was to be found. The brothers cried themselves to sleep in each other’s arms that night. There were no predators, that could best a mermaid anywhere near their habitat during that time of the year, which left only one explanation. They didn't dare even consider the possibility that their beloved mother had been caught or killed by humans, but as the days turned into weeks, it became a horrible reality.

 

From that day on the brothers were strictly forbidden to come even near the surface. Their father developed an almost obsessive hate of all things human and missed no opportunity to let everyone around him know exactly how he felt about those monsters. Of course, being a youngling, accepting any rules without a fight was the furthest thing from Gerard's mind. Life on the ocean floor was dreadfully boring, even with his brother for company, and the fresh air, the sunlight glittering on his scales and the wind on his skin were simply too good to resist. What started as an act of defiance and a test of courage quickly became a habit.

 

At first Mikey wasn’t too keen on advancing into human territory. But as soon as they saw a small, shiny object surpass them on the waves a few days after their first stint, his curiosity got the better of him. The brothers had never seen a drift bottle before, but they took it home like a treasure, mesmerized by its constant attempts to return to the surface. However, the moment their father set eyes on it, he smashed it against the wall of their cave and screamed bloody murder.

 

The next time something colorful and decidedly human drifted past them they knew better. The mysterious object every human child could have identified as a bucket became the first item in their ever growing collection of all things human. They were fascinated by the bright colors, materials they had never seen before and the strange symbols, that covered some of their treasures. Soon they managed to fill a small, hidden cave they had discovered a while ago with empty bottles, discarded clothes, a few cellphones, even a bit of jewelry and all kinds of garbage. Gerard’s favorite find, by far, was a soggy comic book, that disintegrated in the salt water almost instantly when he touched it. But he still caught sight of an imposing figure with two big spikes on its head and half of its face covered in black. Little did he know that Batman was the very first human he had ever seen.

 

A couple of weeks after their mother had gone missing, when the brothers were watching the sunset from a few rocks, someone close by said: “Well, well, what do we have here? Two fledglings out of the nest?” Both boys jumped and looked around frantically, expecting to have been discovered by humans after all. To their surprise the voice belonged to a tall guy with a long taupe tail, who lounged on a rock a few feet away and gave them a once-over. Gerard breathed a sigh of relief and mentally berated himself for his lack of attention. “If that was a hello, then hi, I’m Gerard. This is my brother Mikey. If you only want to throw weird nonsense around, you can piss off, we were here first”, he said and tried to sound as grown-up as possible. The guy laughed out loud and announced: “I like you, kid. I’m Dallon, by the way.”

 

They didn't know it at the time, but soon the brothers would visit Dallon's rock whenever they could, because he _knew things_. The strange merman was quite a bit older than them and had traveled the world, if all the fantastic stories he told them were true, which they were. Mostly. Whales the size of ships, fish glowing in the dark and craters blowing out hot steam from the ocean floor? Gerard and Mikey were more than a little skeptic, but they still couldn't get enough of his tales. However, even more than those, they craved his extensive knowledge of all things human. He never really told them how he had become so educated and some of it sounded absolutely ridiculous, but they soaked it all up like sponges. Dallon could even explain to them what all the strange symbols on some of their treasures meant, once they got over their initial hesitation to show him their secret cave. That was how the brothers were taught to read the list of ingredients on old bottles and the "Made in China" on plastic toys.

 

Their father wasn't very fond of their association with Dallon, most merfolk thought him a bit odd, because he lived very close to the surface and had shown up out of nowhere a while ago. Of course that didn't stop them, on the contrary. They started to take every new piece in their collection to Dallon's rock, eager for his explanation of what it was and what humans did with it. The brothers were pretty sure that he rather made things up than admit that he sometimes didn't know what they showed him, but they liked the elder merman too much to call him out on it.

 

~~~

 

It was the summer of 2001 when Gerard and Mikey were unusually lucky and discovered what they by then recognized as a wooden crate. It was filled with all kinds of colorful objects, that smelled delicious, yet foreign to them. With combined efforts they made it to Dallon’s rock without sea water getting inside the crate, having long since learned that not everything human was resilient enough to be taken to their cave. They found the elder merman lounging in the sun, idly flicking his fins in the soft waves. "Hey Dal, look what we found!", Gerard called for him once they had hoisted their treasure out of the water.

Dallon huffed and said haughtily: "One of these days, young Gerard, you will understand the importance of beauty sleep." Gerard snorted with laughter as his brother raised an eyebrow in disbelief. He would never understand how lying around with their eyes closed was supposed to make someone more beautiful. "Sleep is overrated! Now come on, look what we've got!", he repeated and tossed one of the yellow, curved thingies into Dallon's lap. "Dude, did you just throw a banana at me?!", Their friend exclaimed incredulously, but the effect was somewhat muffled by the way he lunged forward to catch it before it slipped into the water.

 

" _Banana?_ What kind of name is that? Come on, you just made that up!", Mikey scoffed while they pulled themselves out of the water and onto the rocks, voicing Gerard’s thoughts spot-on. Dallon huffed indignantly and proceeded to teach the brothers about fruit and how to eat it. The rich, sweet tastes were unlike anything they had ever known, between the three of them it was gone in no time. Afterwards they were high on sugar, not being used to such large quantities of it in their usual nutrition. They felt warm and giddy, energized and ready to take on anything.

 

That was probably the reason why they swam a lot closer to the small boat than they normally would have. It was a hot summer day, there were several similar vehicles floating around. Usually they would have kept their distance and observed from afar, but Gerard felt an inexplicable pull towards this particular one. It was what Dallon called a dinghy, another one of those silly sounding words he wasn't sure actually existed. They hid behind a rock nearby and peered around the edges. Gerard's breath caught in his throat when he got to see an actual human up close for the very first time.

 

He had longish black hair, that almost brushed his shoulders, tan skin, that was covered in intricate black lines, and almost luminescent hazel eyes. Their color seemed to change whenever he moved, from green to brown to golden. To Gerard he was utterly beautiful. There were two more guys in the boat with him, one with hair in his face and one with some kind of crazy cloud of brown fur surrounding his head, that bounced whenever he moved. They seemed to be engrossed in conversation, talking at each other and waving their hands around.

 

Gerard found himself unable to tear his eyes away. Mikey and him had spent years collecting everything they could get their hands on and observing from afar, but they had never dared to come so close. However, now that they had, he felt like they had been missing out on something, because humans were mesmerizing to watch. Their hands looked so fragile without webbing and claws, their legs strangely vulnerable without a layer of hard scales to protect them and their feet were the most alien thing the brothers had ever seen.

 

He was so captivated that he only noticed the biting wind and the sultriness of the air when Mikey bumped his shoulder and pointed at the menacing black clouds gathering on the horizon. Gerard's breath caught in his throat and it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he really needed to get back into the water, his gills already felt horribly dry and he was becoming light-headed. All the other boats in the distance were returning to the shore, but the three humans on the other side of the rocks they were hiding behind didn't seem to notice the approaching danger. The wind picked up even more, churning the water and threatening to evolve into a proper tempest any moment.


	2. The Tide And Undertow That Drag Me Down

Frank Iero was a nineteen-year-old punk kid, who loved music, comics, dogs and his mom's Italian cooking. He was young, rebellious, impulsive and opinionated, which didn't bode well with the general public, but to those who looked past his rough shell and saw how kind he was at heart, he was a fierce and loyal friend. His best mates Ray Toro and Bob Bryar belonged to that admittedly pretty small group. Frank had met them when he had landed a job at a local music store after high school and he still couldn't believe that he had been lucky enough to end up with them for colleagues.

Ray was a quiet, nerdy genius kind of guy, who never ran out of smiles and tended to be the most responsible member of their group. His trademark were the wild brown afro and the Spiderman action figure in his pocket, that he carried with him wherever he went. Bob, on the other hand, was a very straightforward fellow. He would tell you when you were wrong, didn’t take shit from anybody and he was never reluctant to voice his opinion. Even though he was only 21 years old and thereby two years younger than Ray, Bob's broad shoulders and his full beard (that he was very proud of) made him look quite a bit older. He had short blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and the muscular build of a drummer. In short: Bob was the leader of their group, Ray was the voice of reason and Frank the wild card.

They were spending the 4th of July drinking beer and eating pizza in the middle of the ocean. Actually neither Ray nor Frank were very fond of the sea, but Bob had been so excited about yet another vehicle in his ever growing collection that they had agreed to properly baptize the boat together. Currently they were bickering about Superman, Bob being adamant about his cape being cool, but Frank calling him a goody-twoshoes idiot. It went back and forth for quite a while, captivating the three of them so much that they noticed neither the two mermen watching them nor the storm brewing only a few miles away.

Suddenly thunder rolled in the distance and Bob hurried to start the engine, cursing under his breath. However, all he got out of it was a weak stuttering noise. By that time Ray had already curled up in the back of the boat and tried not to freak out. He had never been able to swim and remembered vividly that he had almost drowned at the age of nine. Frank fumbled for his Nokia, trying to call for help, but jumped violently when he was drenched in cold rain out of nowhere. It was such a shock to the system that he dropped his phone and could only watch it splash into the rolling sea. He crouched down and leaned over the wall of the boat without thinking, trying to get a hold of it, but just then a wave hit the dinghy and he lost his balance.  


~~~

  
Gerard and Mikey looked on in horror as Frank disappeared beneath the waves. His friends hadn't even noticed, one finally managing to start the engine and the other still lying on the floor. The brothers waited for his head to reappear, but nothing happened for a few agonizing seconds. They remembered only too well what Dallon had said about humans dying if they stayed underwater for too long. Gerard never made a conscious decision to move, but he dove into the waves and sped forwards. A few yards beneath the surface he glimpsed the struggling human and chased after him. He didn’t even know how to save him, but the need to try was overwhelming. How could he let something so beautiful be killed without a fight? Finally Gerard managed to grab one of his flailing arms. Their eyes met for the briefest moment before the human’s rolled back into his head and he went limp in Gerard's grip.

 

The merman felt cold dread wash over him. He didn’t even know this guy and he would never see him again, but the thought that he might end up as fish food was absolutely unbearable. Gerard made for the air above them, dragging the dead weight with him and pushing himself to go as fast as he possibly could. Mikey grabbed the human’s other arm and together they managed to pull him to the surface. Once they got there, the boat with the other two men was gone. High, powerful waves crashed against the rocks, the sky was covered in storm clouds and rain was splashing down on them. Every now and then lightning would illuminate the sky, followed by loud rolls of thunder. This wasn’t only life-threatening for the human anymore, but for Gerard and Mikey, as well.

 

Merpeople were taught from an early age to seek refuge as deep down on the ocean floor as possible whenever a thunderstorm came up. Therefore the brothers had never actually been in the middle of a tempest before and were more than a little scared by the flashes of light and noise level. Never had they felt the deadly power of the ocean so explicitly. Gerard yelled at his brother to get the guy to the shore and simply dragged him along when Mikey only looked around them with wide, terrified eyes. None of the mermen knew how they made it and frankly, it was a miracle that they weren’t hit by lightning or thrown against one of the rocks, that were hidden beneath the waves, but after what felt like an eternity they reached the beach. The brothers had to crawl the last yards out of the water, panting from the exertion and struggling to get the unconscious human between them to safety. If they had thought straight, they would have hurried to return home, but they were both too shaken to be reasonable.

 

Gerard couldn’t describe what he felt when he looked at the young man in front of him. How could someone so fragile, yet beautiful be one of the bloodthirsty monsters their father kept raging about? He didn’t even have claws! Ever so carefully, as to not scratch him, the merman grabbed the human’s wrist and examined his fingers, the blunt nails and the black lines of ink. It was so soft to the touch, nothing like his own, leathery fish skin. In the meantime Mikey reluctantly pried open the guy’s lips, drawing in a sharp breath when he discovered a set of pearly white teeth, that were so different from their fangs.

 

They both totally lost track of time, driven by curiosity and wonder. Mikey only came back to himself when raised voices could be heard over the roar of the sea. He noticed rapidly approaching lights in the distance and realized that they were dangerously close to being seen. There seemed to be no imminent threat from the human in the sand, but who knew about the others?

 

Just then the guy started to cough and blink. For the briefest second he locked eyes with Gerard. The merman felt his heart skip a beat and a strange, tingling warmth rise in his chest at the sight of those bright hazel orbs, but before he could make sense of it, his brother yanked him back into the ocean by his fins and finally his flight reflex kicked in.

 

They swam as fast as their fish tails would take them until they reached deeper waters. Gerard looked back only once and breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted two humans, who were bent over the guy they had saved. He readily followed Mikey back home, relieved beyond compare to know that the little human would live. However, as he swam after his brother’s bright red fins, all Gerard could think of was the guy’s expression when he had looked him in the eye. It had been so full of wonder, as if he were the most incredible thing the human had ever seen. Nobody had ever looked at the young merman like that before.

 

The pulsing warmth in his chest returned. Gerard felt cherished, happy, giddy with excitement. The urge to turn around and see his human again grew stronger with every flap of his fins. He wanted to know him, to see him smile and hear him laugh. ‘Is this the love thing Dallon talked about?’, he wondered. Gerard had never experienced anything like it before, so he convinced himself pretty quickly that yes, he had fallen for a human.

 

You see, merfolk do not love. Procreation is a simple matter of a mermaid laying an egg and a merman fertilizing it. No physical contact was needed, in fact any kind of sexual pleasure was a foreign concept. Once the baby had hatched, both parents usually lived together to protect it and pass on their knowledge about life under the sea. Sometimes there would be siblings, sometimes not, but once the child was old enough to take care of itself, everybody would go their separate ways. That was how things worked in nature and how it had always been. Merfolk only lived in groups for strength in numbers to fend off possible intruders like sharks or orcas, but ultimately everyone minded their own business.

 

Of course there were exceptions to every rule. Mikey and Gerard shared a much closer bond than any other siblings they knew and they still lived with their father, even though most merpeople would have started their own lives years ago. It was the loss of their mother, that had conditioned them to stick together and cling to what little family they had left. For so long it had only been the brothers and their dad, that the mere thought of leaving all that behind and allowing a breeding partner into his life instead was outrageous to Gerard. Yet suddenly it was there and he caught himself wondering what it would be like to live with his human. Next came the realization that he would never know. They were from two different worlds and even if they should ever meet again, there was no way they could be a breeding pair.

 

The brothers finally made their way back to the cave they shared with their father. Mikey frowned when he realized how quiet Gerard had been on the way back. He had expected excited chatter about the human or at the very least an admission of how reckless they had been, but his brother’s silence was unnerving. However, just when he wanted to ask him about it, their father came darting out of their home with an expression of such hate and disgust on his face, that the brothers froze in shock

 

“YOU!”, he roared in fury, pointing one clawed hand in their direction. Mikey and Gerard exchanged slightly confused looks, they really had no idea what had brought this on. Never had they seen their dad like this before, not even when he had discovered the bottle they had taken home with them all those years ago. It became all too clear when he yelled at them about how he had looked for them when they hadn’t come home in time before the storm and how he had found their secret cave. By that time they had drawn quite a crowd. Mikey wanted the ocean floor to open up and swallow him. Most of the swearwords their dad hurled at them, he had never even heard before. It escalated so quickly that he barely managed to dodge when their father tried to hit him. Gerard, however, saw red when the sharp claws cleaved through the water, missing Mikey’s face only by a hair’s breadth. The elder brother blindly slashed at their attacker, baring his teeth when he felt the give of flesh beneath his claws, grabbed Mikey’s wrist and dragged him towards the only refuge he could think of.


	3. I'm Sinking Fast

Dallon took only one look at his friends’ faces and ushered them into his cave at the foot of his rock. It was hidden behind an artfully woven curtain of seaweed and practically invisible if one didn't know where to look for it. The elder merman readily shared his stash of sea weed with them and prepared a makeshift bed of rags and other stuff he had lying around. The brothers were eternally grateful that he didn't pry, but waited for them to open up once they were ready to share what had happened. Now that it was over, they found themselves shaken to the core. All of a sudden they were on their own, for neither even considered returning to live with their father. Of course they could stay in their cave, even though it was no longer their secret, but they dreaded the state it had to be in.  


  
Their friend listened to everything they had to say and sighed heavily once they were done. He couldn't say that he was surprised. Actually he had expected something like this to happen a long time ago, given his previous experiences with this particular family. Years had passed since it had happened, but he still couldn't forgive himself for what he had done. It was what had driven him to befriend the boys in the first place, he had wanted so badly to make up for what he had taken from them and to protect them in the future. At first it had been strange, he had needed a while to warm up to them, but by now he almost felt like he had taken over the position of father figure. Maybe that was a good thing considering what the brute, who had actually sired them, had done today.

 

Mikey had always been very observant and noticed that something about Dallon was off. He had never been one for brooding, but now he was unusually quiet and staring at his hands in thought. "Dal?", he murmured after a few beats of silence. The elder merman shook himself out of his trance and sighed heavily. "There is something I have to tell you guys about your father", he said quietly before he recapped a series of events the boys had tried very hard to forget.

 

It had been only days after Dallon had moved to his cave off the Jersey shore. He had left Hawaii in a hurry and made his way through the Panama channel and to the other side of the continent, all in the hopes to start fresh and find some peace. However, one night he had found a battered and bruised mermaid cowering behind a rock close to his new home and invited her in, trying to help and maybe find a friend in these colder, gloomier waters. She had told him through sobs and hiccups that the merman she lived with hated her guts. It had gotten worse and worse until he had beaten her up today because she had brought the wrong kind of seaweed for dinner.

 

Dallon had been appalled and had offered to help in any way he could. She had begged him to put an end to her misery. After a lot of pleading he had given in, as soon as he had recovered from the shock of such a request. Only the day after, when her mate and a few others had started to look for her, had he learned that she had had children. He would never forget the moment he had set eyes on the two boys, clinging to each other and crying for their mother. Dallon hadn't asked and she hadn't told him. Maybe he could have convinced her to take them with her and leave their father behind, but she was long gone by then. Instead he had approached Gerard and Mikey as soon as he got them alone and tried to fill the hole their mother's disappearance had left in their lives.

 

Nobody said a word once he was finished. The brothers felt like vomiting. Never in a million years would they have thought their friend capable of purposefully ending a life. Dallon was a bit eccentric, sure, somewhat of a hermit and almost as sassy as Gerard, a full-blown diva at times, but certainly not a murderer. At least that was what they had thought up until now as their entire view of the world became unhinged.

 

"You killed our mother?", Mikey whispered after what felt like an eternity of tense silence. Dallon flinched and blurted out: "I didn't mean to! Your father would have killed her anyway, sooner or later! I only gave her a way to do it herself!" With a sense of finality he produced a plastic bag from where it was hidden under a stone and placed its content between them on the floor. It was a shell from back home, a lot bigger than the ones around here. Humans called it Triton’s trumpet, it had a pointed spire and a large body whorl. The outside was covered in an orange and brown pattern, but what immediately caught the eye was the bright green light, that glared out of the aperture on the bottom, illuminating the entire cave.

Dallon finished his tale by explaining the magic artifact between them. It would grant a mermaid or merman an opportunity to become human. All one had to do was to hold it to their heart and sing into the opening. It was simple enough and would transform the user. They would have until the third sundown to walk the earth and receive True Love's Kiss. However, there was a price to be paid. The merman turned human would not be able to talk, sing or use their voice in any other way. In theory it would return once the spell was broken by the kiss and the mermaid would be allowed to remain human for the rest of their life, but that had yet to be confirmed. Of course there was a catch. If the sun set for the third time before the kiss had been obtained, the mermaid in question was going to die. Dallon was pretty sure that that was what had happened to Gerard's and Mikey's mother. She had killed herself, but he had put the weapon in her hands.

 

It took the brothers a while to process everything they had heard. In the end Mikey nodded mutely, swam over to their makeshift bed and curled up in the farthest corner, his shoulders shaking with quiet sobs as he realized that their mother might still be alive if Dallon hadn't interfered. Dallon carefully put the shell away again and laid down in his own cot on the other side of the cave, overwhelmed by guilt and shame. But Gerard sat still like a statue in the dark while his mind was running a mile a minute. He didn't blame Dallon. Neither his mother, for that matter. She had found a way out and taken it. He couldn't begrudge her that, not when he craved one himself.

 

Gerard didn't have words for what their father had done today. Never in a million years would he have thought that his dad would attack his baby brother! But then again, he never would have dreamed that he had apparently done the same to their mother, either. What had happened for their family to end up like this?! The expression on his face was burned to his retinas, he couldn't get rid of it. Such fury and blind hatred and for what? Because they had piled a bunch of garbage into a cave? Gerard didn't even want to imagine how he would react if he knew that they had actually saved a human from drowning today. Or even worse, if he knew that his eldest son had fallen in love with one of the "monsters" he hated so much.

 

Once again a pair of hazel eyes emerged from the back of his mind and the merman couldn't help but compare the look of pure wonder on the human's face to his father's sneer. He desperately wanted to see it again. Gerard longed to know his human inside and out, make him laugh and hold him close at night, just like he held his brother whenever he had a bad dream. The merman glanced to where Dallon had hidden the shell. It would be so easy. He loved him, right? That warm feeling in his chest had to be love, he was pretty sure about that. So how hard could it be to find him and kiss him? He would never have to see his father again and would be free to live a life he couldn't even imagine.

Gerard's mind was reeling with the events of the day, he couldn't think straight, otherwise he would have realized what a dangerous and stupid direction his thoughts had taken. He was feeling light-headed already, he had such a tunnel vision, as if it wasn't even him, who made the decision to shove the stone aside, grab the bag and bolt from the cave. As he swam towards the shore as quickly as his tail would carry him, he heard Mikey and Dallon yell at him to come back, but he didn't listen. All Gerard could think of was his human and how much he wanted out, how much he needed everything to stop and his head to shut up. He ripped away the plastic bag, pressed the shell to his chest and sang the first thing, that came to mind. It wasn't even a song, just a few notes, but it did the job.

 

Mikey and Dallon watched in horror as the green hue surrounded Gerard's body and crept into his open mouth. The merman screamed in agony when excruciating pain shot through his tail as it was split in half and a myriad of bright blue scales rained down on the ocean floor. The sides of his neck burned where his gills closed up while he still tried to breathe and his chest felt hollow when his lungs were suddenly free of water. The webbing between his fingers was ripped apart and his claws fell out to be replaced by soft, blunt fingernails. He squeezed his eyes shut when the saltwater stung and burned nerve endings, that had never been bothered by it before. And then it registered that he was underwater, but actually needed air to breathe. Gerard struggled to reach the surface, but his human limbs felt alien to him and his hands were all but useless without the webbing between his fingers. Cold water filled his nose and mouth when he gasped for breath and his vision started to darken as he was suffocated by the element he had spent his entire life in.

 

Two pairs of strong hands grabbed him around his elbows and pulled him towards the light as Mikey and Dallon spurred into action. To Gerard the few seconds felt like an eternity, but eventually his head emerged from the water and he drew in gasping breaths, coughing and trying to get used to the feeling of breathing without his gills for the very first time. However, when he tried to thank his brother and his friend, not a single sound emerged from his mouth. Gerard's throat kept working, but he just couldn't get it out, no matter how hard he tried. He locked eyes with Mikey, noticing an unusual brightness of the colors and a new depth to his vision.

 

Only then did he realize what he had done and a silent sob tore out of his chest. It wasn't the foreign weight of his legs or the irritating sensitivity of his thin human skin, that really made it sink in, but the look of utter devastation and betrayal on his brother's face.


	4. I Never Seem To Get It Right

Gerard had abandoned Mikey. He had consciously activated a spell, that had ripped them apart and would kill him more likely that not. How could he have left his baby brother behind?! Yes, he had been shaken by the day's events, but how could the brief encounter with a human he didn't even know the name of have drowned out all thought of Mikey, the most important person in his life?! Gerard had never been so ashamed of himself. He was the elder brother, he was supposed to take care of him! But instead he had taken the coward's way out and left Mikey to himself. He was so disgusted by his behavior that he almost wished for the three days to be over already.

 

Meanwhile Dallon and Mikey had to focus on more practical things like getting Gerard out of the water. Between them and the coast laid a couple of miles and since Mikey was still exhausted from saving the human, Gerard wasn't much of a help and the waves were still pretty high after the storm had passed, it was no surprise that it took them quite a while to reach the shore. Dallon couldn't help but blame himself for what had happened and kept wondering why on earth he ruined everything he touched. Mikey, on the other hand, hardly managed to think straight at all. They had always been a team, he couldn't remember the last time they had spent more than an hour apart. How was he ever going to survive without his brother? He tried not to feel let down by him, not to give up hope and not to break down for good, but a sinking feeling of dread pooled in his stomach, weighing him down and making his eyes sting. This was officially the worst day of his life.

 

Finally they reached the beach and Gerard tried his best to crawl out on the sand on all fours. Just moving the two halves of his lower body in different directions at the same time took more coordinating than he was capable of at the moment. He collapsed when his shaking arms gave out and rolled on his back, his chest heaving from the unfamiliar exertion. Suddenly a golden light appeared on the horizon as the sun descended from the last of the storm clouds and disappeared behind the trees and houses in the distance. They watched it set, coloring the sky pink and orange. Never before had the sunset been so beautiful, Gerard’s human eyes experienced it so differently. But once the light had faded, he realized how cold he was. His soft, pruney skin was covered in goosebumps and even though the wind had calmed down considerably, it still bit his exposed flesh. They were lucky that nobody was around, they made quite an extraordinary picture, a naked young man with bright red hair lying between two mermen out of the water.

In the end it was Dallon, who broke the silence. “You have shitty timing, Gee. That was the first sundown, only two more days. What the fuck were you thinking?!” Gerard didn’t have an answer to that. “Is it because of the human?”, Mikey whispered dejectedly, finally putting the pieces together. Gerard hung his head. His silence was all the confirmation his brother needed. While Mikey filled in their friend about the afternoon’s events, he realized that even though he was convinced that he did love the guy, he had no idea where to even begin to look for him. He hadn’t thought this through at all, if this world was only half as vast as the ocean, his human could be literally anywhere.

 

~~~

 

While Gerard made his first attempts at walking and Dallon searched the rubbish the storm had washed up to the shore for something to cover him until they could find some actual clothes, Frank woke from a fitful dream in his bed a few miles away. His memory of the afternoon was somewhat blurry. He remembered falling into the water, but then there were only a few vague pictures of huge black eyes, gray skin and the brightest blue. He had woken up on the beach, the ocean roaring in the background and his friend’s voices calling for him. Bob and Ray had more or less carried him to Bob’s car and begrudgingly driven him home when he had refused to go to a hospital. Frank had already seen more than his fair share of doctors in his life, thanks to his shitty immune system and fucked up stomach, he didn’t need any more. Both his friends had crashed on his couch as soon as they had made him take a hot shower and tucked him into bed, but Frank couldn’t sleep.

He kept having the same dream over and over again, as if his brain weren’t able to cope with what he had seen today. It was just a few seconds long, a glimpse of a strange face, like some kind of fish human, almost like a humanoid alien. The same gray skin, huge eyes, blueish spikes covering its head and sharp teeth peeking through its slightly opened lips. Then it would disappear from his view and a bright blue fishtail would shoot out of the waves for a moment, accompanied by a flash of red before it was gone. Frank couldn’t make sense of it. Maybe it was just a near-death experience, maybe he had been hallucinating, but a small voice in the back of his mind kept whispering “what if”. Logically he knew that there was no such thing as mermaids, but Frank had convinced that  _something_  had saved him, because there was no way he could have swum over a mile to the shore considering the way he had sunk like a rock after he had fallen into the water.

 

A few hours later Bob and Ray left for work, but only after making Frank swear that he would call if he needed them. James, their boss, had given Frank the day off, but the store wouldn’t run itself. He tried to keep himself busy, doing laundry and a bit of cleaning, but around noon Frank just couldn’t stay inside his flat any longer. He got into his shitty car and drove aimlessly around the neighborhood, just to keep moving. Eventually he ended up on the beach again, sighing in defeat when he realized that this was where he had wanted to go all along. Frank walked up to the water and looked towards the horizon, scanning the waves for blue and red flashes of color. Was it possible that things existed down there, that were still undiscovered, waiting to be found? What if there was some truth to the stories about sirens, mermaids and all that stuff?

 

Frank had no idea what exactly he had seen, but  _something_  had pulled him out of the water. Something that shouldn't exist, but did. He felt the beginnings of an epic headache behind his temples, this was too much to process and maybe going out after he had almost drowned the day before hadn't been his best idea. He was already turning around to leave when a flash of bright red made him pause and he set eyes on a lonely figure leaning against a couple of rocks a few yards away. 

 

Gerard had never felt so lost in his life. Mikey and Dallon had left when the first humans had appeared after sunrise and were hovering around at a safe distance. He could still make out Mikey's bright scales from time to time, but that was about it. Dallon had found some kind of plastic tarp for him to cover himself. His friend had reminded him again that humans always wore clothes in public and that nudity was frowned upon. Hence why he hadn't dared to move from his spot by the rocks, he got enough odd looks already. Maybe it was because of his hair? None of the humans, that slowly kept assembling on the beach, sported such a vibrant red. So Gerard sat by, watched the humans around him and felt his precious time running out. 

 

However, when the sun had almost reached its zenith, he spotted  _his_  human a few yards away and his breath caught in his throat. He was just as beautiful as he remembered and the warm tingle in his chest returned with a vengeance. Maybe Gerard should have risen and tried to get his attention, but he found himself frozen to the spot, unable to move. For once in his life he was lucky and the guy noticed him anyway, walked up to him and hesitated before he said: "Hi, uhm... are you alright?"

 

The merman turned human could only stare at him. What was he supposed to say to that? 'Not really, I'm going to die tomorrow night unless you fall in love with me and kiss me to break the curse, that is gonna kill me?' Luckily he didn't have to come up with an answer, since he wouldn't be able to voice it anyway, and shrugged instead. Gerard genuinely didn't know whether he was okay, he still wasn't used to his human body.

 

Frank frowned at the young man in the sand. He had bright red hair, a slightly upturned nose and scared, whiskey brown eyes. Something about him struck him as familiar, but Frank couldn’t put a finger on it. Wouldn’t he remember such an expressive face? He could have sworn that they had never met before, but his gut feeling told him otherwise. Only then did he realize that the reason why the guy was covering himself with a dirty red plastic tarp was probably the fact that he was butt naked underneath it, bits of skin peeking out in various places. Maybe he was a castaway after yesterday’s tempest, just like Frank? And nobody had come to look for him? He crouched down and started to pester the stranger with questions about what had happened, where he was from, his name, literally everything that came to mind. However, the only response he got out of him was another shrug, a shake of his head and a look of worry and insecurity in his eyes.

 

Gerard had no idea where to even begin to explain. The human’s rapid-fire questions were too much for him. Dallon had taught both him and Mikey to write in the sand on the ocean floor, but he would have to let go of his tarp for that. So he kept shaking his head and pointing at his throat, hoping that his human would get it. Suddenly the guy drew in a sharp breath and blurted out: “You mean you can’t talk?” Gerard nodded with a relieved sigh. Finally, they were getting somewhere! “Wait, do you even remember how you got here? Maybe you hit your head and that’s why you lost your speech?” Sensing an opportunity to evade further difficult questions, he slowly shook his head no and again when he was asked whether he could recall anything at all.

 

The merman was still completely unable to cope with the situation when he was offered to “crash on a couch”. He had no idea what it meant, but since it was said with a smile, he let himself be pulled to his feet and slowly led away from the water. Walking was still difficult, but somehow he managed not to land face-first in the sand. His human steadied him with an arm around his waist and let Gerard cling to his shoulders. Pressed up against him like this, the merman could feel heat emanating from his body and shuddered involuntarily. All these new sensations were overwhelming to him, he never would have guessed how intense life as a human could be. They reached a broad, dark stripe of flat earth (Road? Street? Highway? Dallon had used many words for this, but Gerard didn’t know which was the right one), that was packed with big colorful… things. Was it ‘cars’? He was too riled up to remember. Gerard looked over his shoulder and saw a flash of red disappear in the water. He swallowed hard, willing himself not to cry. Maybe he would never see his brother again.


	5. I Really Need This To Work Out

Frank sighed heavily when he closed the door of his shitty car behind the stranger. The guy had looked at it like he had never seen one before. Just how severe was the trauma to his head? Frank hadn’t noticed any visible injuries, but it would probably be better to have him properly checked out. The thing was that since he didn’t know who the guy was, he didn’t have health care for now, either. Frank’s job didn’t pay too well and he had just recently bought a new guitar, which meant that he was kinda broke and wouldn’t be able to afford the hospital bills. Sliding into the drivers seat, he decided to just wait and call an ambulance if the guy, whoever he was, got worse. Speaking of which… “I’m Frank, by the way”, he finally introduced himself.

Gerard was pulled out of his numb state of terror and managed a smile. Finally, he could put a name to the beautiful face, that had made him make the biggest mistake of his life and didn’t have to refer to the other man as “his human” any more. However, just then Frank turned a piece of plastic and the contraption roared to life, little lights blinking between them and a disconcerting vibration shaking the seat he was in. Gerard tried his damn hardest not to freak out over the noise and the fact that the metal thing was moving faster than he had ever imagined possible. The ride took only about five minutes, but to the scared merman it seemed like an eternity. When they finally arrived, he didn’t even care that the neighborhood was not the best (not that he would have been able to tell in the first place). All he wanted was to get out of the moving death trap as soon as mermanly possible.

 

A few minutes later Frank helped his guest walk into his apartment. Getting him up four flights of stairs (of course the elevator still wasn’t fixed) had been quite a challenge and he kept wondering what had caused the stranger's issues with balance and coordination. By the way, he couldn’t just keep referring to him as “stranger”. “Can I just call you Steve until you remember your name?”, he asked him with a shrug. It was literally the first name, that had popped into his mind.

Gerard managed to shrug, nod and smile, all at the same time. Just as the big piece of wood closed behind them and he leaned against the wall, still clutching his tarp, a loud sound nearly gave him a heart attack. A tiny, furry little thing with a long pink tongue hanging out of its mouth came running toward them as fast as its short legs would carry it. Frank scooped it up, cuddled it to his chest and giggled when it licked his face. “This is Sweet Pea, the most beautiful dog you’ll ever meet”, he explained and pressed a kiss to her head. Of course Gerard had seen dogs from afar before, but those had been about half the size of a human, not… this. She had wiry gray fur, huge trusty eyes and slightly warped legs. Well, Dallon liked to say that beauty laid in the eye of the beholder. He still hesitantly reached out to touch her and pulled his hand back in shock when she lunged forwards to sniff it. Eventually he managed to pet her back a little the way he had seen humans do, but he still eyed the dog wearily after his host had set her down. That he might encounter animals that lived on land hadn’t even occurred to him so far. Only then did he take in Frank’s lair and could hardly decide where to look first.

There were lights everywhere, so many colors in one place, so many things he had absolutely no idea what to make of! Frank directed him to a room with smooth, shiny white squares lining the walls and disappeared for a moment while Gerard stared in awe at the piece of metal sticking out of some kind of basin and a section of the wall, that showed a moving figure. A mirror, he realized. That was his own reflection!

 

He had never seen himself so clearly and only ever managed to get a glimpse on the surface of the water whenever the ocean had been calm. But now he took in every detail of his face and couldn’t help but wonder if he was attractive by human standards. His hair was an even brighter red than Mikey’s scales, but thankfully long enough to cover the faint scars, that were left of his gills. His eyes were a weird mix of green and brown and he still couldn’t get used to his blunt teeth. Just then Frank returned with an armful of clothes and twisted a knob on the wall. Dallon had told them about showers, but seeing for himself that humans could make water rush out of the wall whenever they wanted was still incredibly fascinating.

 

After Frank had told him what to use to clean his body and what was meant for his hair, he left him to it and Gerard hesitantly stepped underneath the warm spray. He ran his soft hands over his unfamiliar body as he scrubbed himself somewhat clean and watched the sandy water disappear in a hole between his feet. Where did it go? He would have to ask Frank once he figured out how to communicate with him. Having never had hair before, that was the trickiest part. Luckily he could read the instructions on the bottle and figured out how to open it, but he still learned the hard way that the stuff wasn’t meant to go in your eyes. Afterwards he dried himself off and followed nature’s call when he realized what the dull pressure in his lower belly meant. Apparently Dallon hadn’t made up the whole toilet thing after all. Who would have thought. Had merfolk been religious people, he would have thanked God for Dallon’s knowledge of humans and their ways, otherwise he would have been utterly lost in this weird world.

 

Frank waited impatiently for his guest to emerge from the bathroom. The way he had acted in the car and looked around the room one might think that he had literally spent his life under a rock. Where the hell had he come from? Frank was dying to know his story, but for now he busied himself with making sandwiches for lunch. He was determined to try and ask more questions afterwards, but in the end Steve barely managed to finish his second sandwich before he fell asleep on the couch. Fine, Frank’s curiosity would have to wait.

 

~~~

 

Gerard woke up with a blood-curdling scream, that never made it out of his throat. Tears were streaming down his face as his body was shaken by silent sobs and he tried to get rid of the image of his baby brother being torn to shreds by a shark. All because he hadn’t been there to spot the danger in time for them to get away. He had always looked out for Mikey, since his eyesight was so poor. Gerard would never forgive himself if something happened to his brother because he had been a fucking idiot and left him behind. How could he ever have been so stupid?!

 

The young merman curled in on himself and hugged his unfamiliar knees to his chest. In the end it was their father’s reaction, that had triggered him and driven him to do run away. But they surely could have dealt with it, right? Dallon would have helped them find a place of their own and get used to life without him.

 

It was dark and quiet except or the sound of cars outside. Gerard was all alone in a whole new world. He had never been so lonely before and didn’t even try to hold back his tears. Crying was a lot messier out of the water, the soft fabric beneath his head was soaked in no time and his nose became all weird and stuffy.

 

Next another unpleasant thought popped into his mind. While he really was very smitten with Frank, his human was basically a stranger. How could you honestly say that you love somebody if you didn’t know them at all? How was he ever supposed to learn to be a proper human, let alone everything Frank wanted in a mate? But Gerard shoved it all aside. It had been that 'love at first sight' thing for him, so Frank would get there pretty soon, too, right? It didn't even occur to him that that might take a lot longer than the two days he had.

 

Frank got out of the bathroom and decided to check on his guest one last time before he went to bed. He was a bit worried about him, Steve had passed out about seven hours ago and even slept through a phone call of Ray’s in the evening. On the other hand, Frank had spent the remainder of the last day in bed as well, almost-drowning was exhausting business. A quiet sniffling noise made him pause in the doorway. The room was only illuminated by moonlight, but it was enough to make out Steve’s shaking form on his tiny couch. Frank sighed in sympathy. At least he had been found by his friends and taken home to his flat after his near-death experience the previous day. It had to be so much worse to find oneself alone and without anything to return to.

 

Without thinking twice he pulled his guest up from the couch and led him to the only other room besides the tiny bathroom and the cramped kitchen. Frank pushed Steve towards his bed, slipping in beside him and holding him. He had absolutely no idea why, but somehow it felt like the right thing to do. The shaking man in his arms sucked up every bit of comfort he gave him and snuggled deeper into Frank’s embrace, his tears forming a wet patch on his chest. Frank never would have admitted it out lout, but somehow it was... nice to feel Steve’s weight on his body. At least it wasn’t as weird as he would have thought. He had never done this with a guy, but he liked it, in the end it was just being close to another person. He missed that more than anything. But he was _not_ gay. Just taking care of someone in need. Yeah. Why was he even thinking about that?

 

Gerard couldn't believe what a turn this night had taken. Dallon had said something about humans “going to bed together” if they loved each other, so this was a good sign, right? He was still scared of this huge, complicated world, but in this little cocoon of Frank’s arms and the warm blankets he felt safe. He didn’t even mind the furry monster jumping on the bed and cuddling up to its master, dangerously close to his own face. A tiny spark of hope bloomed in his chest. This was going way better than he had expected. So how was he supposed to make Frank kiss him? After all they had taken the first step and shared a bed, so he might as well try to get on with it, right? But before he could come up with a plan, the events of the day took their toll on him and he fell asleep again, thankfully without nightmares this time.


	6. Where Do We Belong? Anywhere But Here

Gerard sighed heavily and hung his head. Frank had woken him up half an hour ago and introduced him to breakfast and coffee. He instantly loved both, especially the way the inconspicuous brown liquid made him alert and energetic. His human had offered him small, crunchy, pink things in a white liquid and called it cereal with almond milk. The merman hadn’t realized how hungry he had been until he had tried it and even managed to eat a second bowl once he had figured out how to use a spoon. But then Frank had left for work, promising to come right back afterwards. So many hours of his precious two days, wasted! He had wanted to get on with the kissing! Even worse, now he was all alone with the furry little thing, that kept trying to crawl into his lap and followed him everywhere, its creepy, huge tongue hanging out of its mouth. Gerard really wished he still had his claws to fend it off.

He wasn’t used to confined spaces. The ocean was so vast, it went on forever, but the four walls of Frank’s cramped lair seemed to suffocate him. However, leaving this relatively safe place was completely out of the question. Gerard was terrified of the strange world out there. To distract himself, he randomly grabbed what he recognized as a thin book from a piece of wood on the wall and was equally taken aback and thrilled to be faced with a black figure he had only glimpsed once a few years ago.

 

Gerard spent hours devouring everything Batman Frank owned. It took him a while to figure out the correct order, but once he had, he was so immersed in the story lines that he didn’t even notice the monster curling up in his lap. Most of it didn’t even make sense to him, what was a gun and why did it kill people? But he pushed through, curious what would happen next. Around noon a shrill wailing noise pulled him out of his frenzy as an ambulance drove by outside. He had seen one of those on the beach before, when the limp body of a child had been carried out of the water by a human in bright red clothing. Only then did Gerard realize that he was absentmindedly petting the strange looking animal’s belly while it stared up at him with huge, trusting eyes and wagged its tail. Maybe the beast wasn’t so bad after all. A loud rumble of his stomach made him get up and walk to the kitchen. He had seen Frank put the cereal into a wooden crate up on the wall and the milk into the big white humming block in the corner.

It took him a while to choose one of the various colorful boxes. In the end he just sniffed them and took the one, that smelled the best. It was a brown one with a human-like creature on it, that had only two teeth and strange hair. The writing said something with chocolate, which was delicious, according to Dallon. Eventually Gerard found a bowl, a spoon and figured out how to get the milk out of the humming box with the light in it. Human food was so much better than cold, slimy fish and chewy, tasteless seaweed. He grabbed a banana once he was done, relieved to find something familiar for a change.

 

When the young merman returned to the books, he spotted paper and what Dallon called pencils on a table by the window. The prospect of writing like humans did was thrilling and he managed to scrawl his name in big, wobbly, but legible letters. Next he found himself doodling random shapes on the rest of the page before one of them turned into his best attempt at sketching Batman. As it turned out, drawing was a lot easier than writing and soon he looked at the black and white faces of the three most important people in his life. Mikey, Dallon and Frank. He was getting better and better at this. Gerard pressed the pictures of his brother and best friend to his chest and sniffled quietly when his eyes glazed over. He missed them so fucking much! In the end he folded up the two pages and tucked them into the pocket of the garment Frank had given him to wear the day before. Just then the furry thing… Sweet Pea, was it? Anyway… it started to snore where it had fallen asleep amongst the books with its tongue hanging out of its mouth and its short legs sticking up in the air. Gerard smiled to himself and reached for another sheet of paper.

 

 ~~~

 

Frank didn’t really know what to expect when he returned home that day. He hadn’t been able to focus on his work at all, constantly worrying about Steve being on his own. After a while Bob had called him out on it and he had reluctantly told him about his new flatmate. Of course his friend had insisted to meet the guy immediately, he could practically feel his impatient stare burn a hole in the back of his head. Thank God Frank had thought to invite Ray to come as well, because he ad a feeling that this wasn’t gonna go well. To his surprise he found Steve kneeling in front of the rickety coffee table, working on a drawing of Sweet Pea, who immediately jumped off the couch to greet him with her usual shrill barks and excited tail wagging.

 

Frank awkwardly introduced his friends to his new flatmate and asked him about his day. He smiled to himself when he set eyes on a pile of Batman comics on the couch and chuckled when Steve showed him about a dozen sketches of his sleeping dog in various hilarious positions. The last picture, however, was different. Frank swallowed hard when he saw it. It was a portrait of himself, but he was pretty sure that he wasn’t nearly as… beautiful in real life. There was a smile on his lips, his eyes were soft and tender and for once his hair didn’t look like a greasy mess. Was this how Steve saw him? What the hell was he supposed to make of it?!

 

He only snapped out of it when he realized that his friends had started some kind of awkward small talk with his guest, Ray asking him if he felt okay after what had happened the day before and Bob pressing him for his name. Steve looked a little scared, which was understandable, Bryar could be really intimidating if he wanted to be. “You just pick up random strangers from the beach and leave them alone in your flat? What are you, social services? It’s bad enough that you keep telling us about creepy shark people saving you, but this is a bit much, don’t you think?”, his friend snarled in obvious disapproval. Oh come on, not this again!

 

Gerard didn’t understand what was happening. Why had Frank brought these people along if they could have had some alone time instead? How were they supposed to kiss with them in the way? Ray, the fur-hair man, seemed nice enough, but the other one looked about ready to kick Gerard out of Frank’s lair.

 

Shark people? Somehow he found himself in the middle of a huge debate about mermaids being real or not. So Frank did remember what had happened?! If only he could tell his human that he had been the one to save him! All Gerard had to do was find a way to make Frank believe him, even if he looked so different now. But Bob’s adamant refusal to even consider Frank’s story to be true held him back. He had to do this right, he might only have one shot and in the end his life depended on it. Literally.

 

“Let it go, man. I was promised video games”, Ray chimed in after a while and Frank could have kissed him for it. Bob really was a stubborn son of a bitch and would never shut up voluntarily. He got some snacks and a couple of beers from the kitchen while Ray set up the game. Steve held the controller as if he had never played before. With Frank’s and Ray’s help he improved pretty quickly, but he still sucked, obviously completely swamped by Mario Kart.

 

When Frank went to the bathroom inbetween rounds of the colorful game with the ringing and squealing, Gerard had to fight the impulse to run after him. He really liked Ray, maybe they could become friends be it that he was still alive the day after tomorrow, but Bob still eyed him suspiciously whenever the other two weren’t looking. “Alright, let’s cut the bullshit. Frank’s last girlfriend broke up with him only a few weeks ago and he’s finally getting over it. Hurt him and I’ll end you. He’s gone through enough shit this year, he doesn’t need any more. Don’t make it worse, are we clear?”, the blonde man growled, his blue eyes boring into Gerard’s hazel ones. Ray interfered once again and told Bob to cut Gerard some slack, but the merman only nodded and stared at his feet.

 

Fortunately that was the moment Frank returned and the tension in the room slowly dissipated. But even hours later, long after Frank’s friends had left and they were watching some show on the TV thing, Bob’s words kept repeating in Gerard’s mind. So Frank liked females. The young merman knew enough about humans to understand that his chances had just plummeted dramatically. If Frank wasn’t gay, he was a dead merman swimming. But then why had he held him the way he had last night?! Why would he lead him on like this? Gerard had abandoned his brother for a human, who probably wouldn’t even consider him as a mate! He already felt tears burning in his eyes again. Why couldn't Frank just love him back? Gerard glanced at his human, who was fast asleep with his head tilted back and his hideous dog curled up in his lap.

 

Suddenly all he wanted was to get out. The need to see Mikey, one last time at least, was overwhelming. He tried very hard to be quiet when he sneaked into the hallway and nicked a pair of Frank’s shoes and a jacket. Afterwards he grabbed a pack of human food, that looked promising from the kitchen and practically fled from Frank’s lair. Walking was still a challenge, but he managed not to trip over his own feet every few steps. It was dark outside, only a few people strolling around, who didn’t pay him any mind. Fortunately Gerard had at least a vague idea of the direction they had come from the day before and swallowed hard before he set off towards the ocean. Back home.

 

The young merman could have cried with relief when he heard the surf in the distance and finally felt sand underneath his shoes after what felt like an eternity of setting one foot in front of the other. The water was calm tonight, only a few small waves lapping at the shore. Gerard closed his eyes for a moment and breathed in the familiar smell before he picked up a few small stones and pieces of driftwood to throw into the ocean as far as he could. If he knew his brother at all, Mikey would have stayed close and looked out for him. The moment a head of red spikes emerged from the water, Gerard’s legs gave out and he fell to his knees, hugging his brother as tightly as he could.

 

They talked for hours. Well, Mikey and Dallon, who had shown up only moments after his brother, did the talking, Gerard had to resolve to body language. He sat down on a line of rocks, that protruded into the waves, so that the two mermen could be close to him without leaving the water. The pack of food he had brought turned out to be some kind of black and white discs he shared with Dallon and Mikey, who couldn’t get enough of the treat. It almost felt normal, Gerard even managed to forget for a few moments that this was his last night on this world. Dallon and Mikey had taken the news of Frank’s disinterest in males pretty well, but he still saw the despair in their eyes. Never had he wanted to turn back time so badly.

 

However, after a few hours a group of humans came closer, laughing and chatting amongst each other and waving bottles around. They lit a fire and got comfortable, some going for a swim and some sitting down in the sand. Dallon and Mikey quickly disappeared in the water, lest they be seen. Who knew what those people would do if they got their hands on them? After all the horror stories about humans were still very present in their minds, even if they ignored them more often than not.

When he made it back to Frank’s lair a good while later, Gerard was beyond exhausted. He had lost his way twice and run into a human with a huge dog, that had scared him to death. Now all he wanted was to collapse into Frank’s bed and forget what was going to happen the next day at sunset. However, as he tried to open the door at the bottom, it didn’t move an inch. Of course, he didn’t have a key! For once he was lucky and a short human with bronze skin, shiny black hair, an impossibly wide smile and black smudged around his eyes came out of the house, leaving the door wide open for Gerard to slip through. Hopefully Frank wasn't gonna be mad at him for running away.


	7. I Wanna Show You My World

Frank frowned when someone knocked on his door at two in the morning. He had woken up to an empty flat about half an hour ago and immediately started to look for Steve. Next he had rung up his best friends, who were currently getting ready to go out and expand the search for the stranger he had taken home with him the day before. Both of them were blinking tiredly, Ray’s hair was a rat’s nest and Bob wore his shirt inside out, but they were equipped with torches and their phones, ready to help as best they could.

 

When Frank opened the door and found Steve on the other side, he felt a huge weight lifting off his chest. He didn’t say anything, just gave the guy a hug, overwhelmed with relief that he was okay. Actually Frank didn’t even know why he had freaked out so much. He hadn’t even considered that Steve might just have taken a walk, but assumed the worst immediately (what exactly that was, he had no idea). For some reason he felt fiercely protective of a guy he didn’t know at all and had panicked the moment he had found him missing. But he didn’t have time to figure out why he was behaving so irrationally, because there were more urgent things to deal with. Like Bob, who was scowling at Steve while Ray gave him a tired smile.

 

Gerard was more than reluctant to leave the warmth of Frank’s embrace, but pulled back eventually. He didn’t want to overdo it by clinging to him like a scared child. “Man, we were worried about you!”, Ray said with yet another of his bright smiles. Gerard managed a weak twitch of his lips. The fur-hair human really was the nicest guy he had ever met. However, just then Bob snarled: “Where have you been?!”, looking about ready to strangle him. Frank tried to reason with him, but the man with the beard wouldn't have any of it and snapped: “What!? He just ran off without a word, who knows where!” Gerard bit his lips and looked away while Ray protested: “What does it matter, he’s back and he’s safe!”

 

“It matters, because Frank is my best friend! I don’t want him to be taken advantage of! Sorry, Frankie, but sometimes you’re too kind for your own good. This is Jersey, there are a lot of strange people out there, he could be a criminal, an addict, an illegal immigrant! Have you even thought about the kind of trouble you could be getting yourself into?!”, Bob almost yelled and for a moment it was eerily quiet in the room, only the humming of the white box next door could be heard. Frank looked shocked and even Ray seemed to reconsider his opinion. Gerard, for his part, had to fight back tears. He hadn’t thought that things could get any worse, but apparently he had been mistaken. He didn’t even think about what he was doing, stumbled towards the table and reached for a piece of paper.

 

Frank couldn't believe his eyes when he read ‘I was with my brother’. It was written in big, uneven caps, like a child’s handwriting, but legible. Bob snorted and hissed: “So much for losing his memory! Who knows what else he lied about?!” Frank felt utterly betrayed and used. Never in a million years would he have thought that Steve would outright lie to him! The guy was shaking like a leaf, tears streaming down his face, but in all honesty, Frank was too shocked to care. The stranger in their middle proceeded to scribble ‘You wouldn't believe what happened’, which was a bullshit excuse. In the end it was Ray, who asked after a few beats of tense silence: “What’s your name, then?”

 

Gerard. Huh. Not exactly what Frank had been expecting. “So what’s the deal? Stop with this bullshit, you owe Frank some answers!”, Bob demanded relentlessly and for the first time since St-… _Gerard’s_ return Frank found himself agreeing wholeheartedly. ‘I was a merman.’ Seriously!? That was the big explanation? He had to be kidding, come on, were they supposed to believe that a big, fat, ugly octopus with horrible make up had transformed him into a human?! “You’re shitting me, right?”, Bob murmured under his breath, voicing Frank’s thoughts exactly.

 

The guy sighed and wrote: ‘My brother still is. I went to see him.’, before he pulled two wrinkled and slightly damp pieces of paper out of his pocket, smoothed them out and wrote ‘Mikey, brother’ and ‘Dallon, best friend’ on the pages. Frank stepped closer and stared at the two drawings. They looked creepy, almost otherworldly, like a perfect mend of human and fish and… he had seen it before. Suddenly the strange sense of familiarity when he had first set eyes on Gerard made sense. If he had had spikes instead of hair and his skin were a bit more on the grayish side…. Those features were familiar. “Did you save me?”, Frank blurted out as soon as his mind had made the connection.

 

Gerard shrugged and nodded, staring at the floor. It didn’t matter anymore. Even if Frank had been interested in males, he had blown any chance he might have had when he had lied to him the moment they had met properly. He had only gotten a glimpse of Frank’s personality, but he had a feeling that he was a fiercely loyal and honest guy, who despised falsity in any form. What did Gerard have to offer him anyway? He was a selfish coward, who had abandoned his brother without a second thought and had no clue what he was even doing here. Gerard was a sad excuse for a human being.

 

Frank couldn’t believe that he was actually considering this preposterous story to be true, but it made so much sense in a weird and twisted way, one only had to throw common sense, logic and one’s view of the world out of the window. Maybe it was due to the late hour and the fact that the drama of the last days had exhausted him, but Frank decided to give Gerard the benefit of the doubt. He acted on instinct, put his arms around his shoulders and pulled him close again. The guy was quite a bit taller than him, which made it kinda awkward, but eventually all the tension left Gerard’s body as he hugged him back and buried his face in Frank’s shoulder. What did people say in a situation like this? Actually Frank was never at a loss for words, but now he found himself tongue-tied.

 

When he pulled back, his eyes caught on four faint white lines on the side of Gerard's throat. “What the fuck...”, he whispered to himself and pushed the guy’s red hair aside to get a better look. They were perfectly parallel, slightly raised and a bit curved, like… “Gills?”, Frank murmured without meaning to. Gerard nodded and showed him an identical set of marks on the other side of his neck. Jesus Christ, if this was fake or an elaborate prank or something, it was a damned good one. “Holy shit, dude!”, Ray said behind him, craning his neck to sneak a peek at Gerard’s skin as well.

Frank was struggling to process this new piece of information while Gerard stood in the middle of the room, clutching his drawings to his chest and Bob and Ray kept bickering behind them. Bob was adamant that the scars looked pretty old and well-healed and that he could have gotten them anywhere, while Ray pointed out that there was still a bit of sand on his shoes, so he had definitely been on the beach. In the end Bob threw his hands up in frustration and announced: “Alright, I’ve had it with this bullshit! We’re going back there, I want to meet that brother of yours!” It was going to be a long night.

 

~~~

 

Gerard didn’t know how he made it outside, but somehow he found himself sitting in Frank’s moving death trap again. He probably should have been scared, what if Mikey didn’t come? What if he was mad at him for disclosing their existence to a couple of humans? But actually a strange numbness had settled in his chest. Everything felt so surreal, as if he were cut off from the world around him. He didn’t notice that he was still crying, his tears slowly soaking the paper in his hands, and wasn’t even bothered by the breakneck pace.

 

When they arrived, he gestured for the humans to stay back a little and climbed along the rocks he had sat on earlier tonight. Gerard only had to throw a few stones until his brother’s head emerged from the water, Dallon’s taupe scales glittering in the light of the waning full moon close behind. Mikey took one look at Gerard’s face and climbed out of the water in record time to carefully cup his cheeks in his hands. “What’s wrong, Gee? What happened to your eyes, is this normal? Are they supposed to be so... drippy?”, his brother blurted out in a rush.

Frank could only stare in disbelief and pinch himself. Bob next to him yelled: “What the fuck?!”, at the tops of his lungs and Ray on his other side did a pretty great impression of a carp. A second creature... fish man… merman, whatever, that had just started to get out of the water, jumped back in and disappeared in the waves immediately. The one with the red scales apparently wanted to bolt, too, but Gerard grabbed his wrists before he could and apparently tried to convince him that they weren’t a threat.

 

Ever so slowly, Frank stepped closer and crouched down beside the two of them, his eyes roaming over beautiful scales, gray skin and deadly claws, that looked like they could end him in a heartbeat. This wasn’t just a mythical creature. This was a fucking predator. “Uhm… hi. You must be Mikey”, he finally managed to say. He was so out of his depth here. No pun intended.

 

Mikey swallowed hard, trying to fight down his flight reflex. His heart was hammering in his chest and he was already getting lightheaded, even if he had only been out of the water for a minute. His instincts screamed at him to get away as soon and as far as possible, but he forced himself to get over his fear. Gerard wouldn’t have put him in danger, his trepidation was absolutely unfounded. He managed a nod reminding himself again and again that the human couldn’t be a bad guy if Gerard had decided to bring him here. “I’m Frank”, the guy introduced himself. “Yeah, I know”, Mikey murmured bashfully, after all Gee had told them quite a few things about what had happened to him earlier.

 

“Holy shit, you can talk!?”, the human blurted out and Mikey snorted, smiling despite himself. “Of course I can, we’re not some kind of dumb animals you know?”, he said and felt a bit of his tension melt away. “But why can’t he?”, Frank wanted to know, pointing at Gerard with a frown. “‘Cause he’s a fucking idiot!”, Dallon yelled from afar, slowly inching closer again. No argument there. Eventually the two men Mikey recognized from the boat joined them until the humans and Gee were sat on the rocks and Dallon and him floated in the water.

They took turns telling the entire story from the start. The guys asked a million questions, especially the one with the hairy face, and the two mermen tried to answer them as best the could. They even let them touch their fishtails and the webbing between their fingers. In exchange the one with the fur-hair let Mikey try on the frame on his face. He called it glasses and when he placed it on the bridge of his nose, Mikey could see the stars for the very first time. His eyesight had always been poor, but only now did he realize how much he had missed. The world was quite a bit duller when he gave them back.

 

The horizon was already turning pink in the distance when Frank asked: “Where did you actually find that magic shell? I mean, is magic a thing where you live?” Gerard turned to look at Dallon, realizing once again how much he didn’t know about his friend. He had always given them so vague answers when they had asked him about his life before he had joined their community. They had stopped asking at some point, because it wasn’t any of their business. But he had to admit, he was dying of curiosity.


	8. All These Miles Just To Get Back Home

Dallon swallowed hard and closed his eyes for a second. He had known from the moment he had shown the shell to the brothers that it would come to this sooner or later. More than ten years had passed and he still wasn’t over it, but sometimes, if he was very lucky, he could forget for a little while. He had never talked about that part of his past before, but after the role he had played in the disappearance of Gerard’s and Mikey’s mother, he did owe them the truth about how he had acquired the blasted thing.

 

“I grew up off the coast of Hawaii, we had a pretty big cave, my siblings and me even had a room all to ourselves. I loved it there, it’s so much warmer than here and there are fish and corals all around, it’s beautiful. One day I met a boy, he was snorkeling and I couldn’t hide in time. He was so shocked that he almost would have drowned. I pulled him out and we became friends. His name was Brendon, he was twelve at the time, I was eighteen, maybe nineteen, I don’t know for sure. Anyway, he taught me everything I know about humans, even to read and write in the sand with my claws. We met almost every day, he read me books, played music and sometimes he sang for me. He had the most beautiful voice, that boy was so talented.

 

But as he grew up, I realized that I wanted us to be more than friends. I was crazy for him, but of course there was no way we could ever have a real relationship. Then one day I heard a few of the elders talk about a sea witch at the bottom of at trench nearby. I still don’t know how I mustered up the courage to swim down there, it was fucking freezing, so dark that you couldn’t even see the walls anymore and then there was a creepy green light, coming from a cave. She had a necklace made of bones, a huge collection of rusty knives and pitch black scales, the darkest I’ve ever seen.

 

I asked her if there was a way to make me human. She asked why and when I told her, she laughed at me and gave me the shell, she didn’t even ask for anything in return. So I tried to visit all my favorite places one last time, I spent time with my siblings to take it all in before I would leave the ocean forever. And then… I saw him with another guy. It wasn’t in our usual spot, more like on the other side of the island. They were laughing and cuddling, he even kissed him in the end. I never learned his name, but Bren had told me quite a lot about his friends, maybe it was Ryan. Doesn’t matter anyway.

 

I felt horrible and didn’t dare use the spell when he so obviously wanted someone else, so I ran. That’s how I ended up here. I still took the shell with me as a reminder that love isn’t for merfolk. Of course the witch knew that, that’s probably why she gave it to me at all. I guess she was just waiting for me to be stupid enough to use it and thought she could pick it up from the ocean floor again afterwards. Merpeople can’t love humans. It never ends well, I’ve learned that the hard way.”

 

By the time Dallon’s story came to an end, the first cars were parked along the beach and they had to be careful, lest they be seen. Gerard held his brother close and tried not to start crying again. “Promise me to come back here before sunset?”, Mikey whispered into his ear and Gerard patted his back to show his consent. He would never leave without saying goodbye. Dallon’s hug was just as fierce, but cut short when a dog, followed by a couple of children came running towards them. Gerard had never wanted to stop time so badly. How long did he have? Ten hours? A little more?

 

~~~

 

The drive back was silent. Frank could hardly focus on the road, he was so knackered after the night he had had. Luckily they made it back home in one piece. He waved his friends goodbye, who made the short walk to the flat they shared a few houses down. He really didn’t envy them for their Sunday shift at the store and thanked God and James for today being his off day. When the door to his apartment closed behind them, he leaned against it and rubbed his palms over his face while Sweet Pea was jumping around his feet, trying to get his attention.

 

The last hours had been a rush of information and he couldn’t even begin to take it all in. Mermaids, witches, magic, it sounded insane and he would never believe it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. That in itself would have been more than enough to blow his mind, but the fact that Gerard’s life depended on him falling in love with him was just too much for him. He had definitely wondered what it would be like to be with a guy the night before, but that had been more about the idea in general, not… this. Now that it had suddenly become so tangible, he couldn’t cope at all. Frank wasn’t homophobic, not at all, but that didn’t mean that he was ready to jump in at the deep end and get involved with a guy. He really didn’t know what to make of Gerard’s crush on him, he needed time to figure it out, which was the one thing they didn’t have.

 

Gerard stood next to Frank and didn’t know what to do. He had never been this exhausted before and wanted nothing more than to fall asleep in Frank’s arms again. But would he let him? Was he still allowed to share a bed with him, now that the cards were on the table? “So you’re gonna die today unless someone who loves you gives you a kiss?”, Frank asked him again, even though it had been said plenty of times tonight. Gerard nodded miserably, fresh tears pooling in his eyes. This was his last day on earth. No need to rub it in. Out of nowhere Frank grabbed the front of his jacket and crashed their lips together.

 

It was weird and felt kinda wrong, Frank’s nose was smashed against his own, he could hardly breathe and didn’t know where to put his hands. Was it supposed to be like this? But then Frank shifted against him, cupped his cheeks and tilted his head a little, so that they met at a better angle, and suddenly his heart began to pound like mad and a delicious warmth spread through his belly. This was nice. He carefully placed his hands on Frank’s hips and tried to follow his cue when the human started to move his lips against his. The way the soft skin of Frank’s mouth caressed his had his toes curl in his shoes, it was the best feeling ever. Gerard could have spent the rest of his life like this, he didn’t want it to end. Never had he experienced this kind of intimacy, he had never been so close to anybody before.

 

Frank had no idea what had made him do it, but somehow he was kissing a man for the very first time. He desperately wanted Gerard to live, he genuinely liked the guy and nobody deserved to die so young. What he hadn’t expected was that he actually liked it. More than just liked it, in fact, as proven by the tightening of his jeans. Kissing a bloke had no right to feel this good, there were literal fireworks going off inside his chest. Why had it never been like this with a girl? Was it just Gerard or were it guys in general? Had he lied to himself the entire time and subconsciously wanted this all along? God, he was so confused! When he pulled back, Frank was flushed and panting just as hard as Gerard. It would probably take a while to stomach this on top of everything else, that was going on.

 

“Did it work?”, Frank asked him awkwardly. Gerard needed a moment to pull himself together, but when he tried to say that he didn’t know and didn’t feel any different, no sound came out of his mouth. Alright, maybe ‘not any different’ wasn’t strictly true, his lips were stilltingling where Frank’s had touched them and his entire body was buzzing with energy. Frank sighed and hung his head. “I’m sorry. But I had to try anyway”, he murmured dejectedly. Gerard bit his lip and looked away.

 

_A few years ago Mikey had found a bottle with the word ‘kiss’ on it and Dallon had explained to them what the unfamiliar word meant. Something about humans pressing their mouths together when they liked each other. Of course, being the curious kids they were, they had tried it when they had deposited the bottle in their cave with the others. It turned out merpeople have teeth, that don’t mix with kissing. It had ended in Gerard having to explain a bloody lip to their father and Mikey feeling bad for biting him. They had never given it much thought again and simply dismissed it as one more weird thing humans did._

 

But this had been so much better than that. Gerard had no idea why this kind of touch was so special to him. He just wished that it had meant something to Frank, too, and that he hadn’t kissed him out of guilt or obligation. “Are you coming?”, his human asked from the door to his bedroom, carrying the furry monster in his arms. At least he wouldn’t have to sleep alone.

 

When they laid in his narrow bed together, Frank shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe it was time to admit to himself that he wasn’t as straight as he had always thought. He still liked girls, though, did that make him bicurious? Bisexual? Polysexual? Pan? This was so confusing. What he did know was that he would have liked to see where this could have gone if things were different. But like… slowly. There was no time for them. All he could do was hold Gerard for a few hours of rest and then make the most of his last day, so he kissed his hair and pulled him close, wishing that there were a way to escape the inevitable.

 

~~~

 

When they woke up, Frank treated Gerard to a late breakfast at IHOP. Who cared if he had to live on dry toast and cereal the rest of the month, he would indulge him today. Afterwards they visited Ray and Bob at the store, who were almost asleep on their feet. Luckily it was a quiet day, so he could play Gerard some of his favorite music and show him a couple of instruments. Finally he convinced his friends to play something with him. Ray played guitar, Bob was on drums and Frank picked up a bass. Actually he was a lot better at guitar, but he could manage a few classics. And the look of pure wonder on Gerard’s face was so worth it! His smile was mesmerizing, Frank couldn’t take his eyes off him. So fucking beautiful. His excitement was so genuine, Frank wanted to show him the whole world. He felt his heart flutter in his chest. That was when he finally admitted to himself that if only they had time, he could have fallen for him.

 

Gerard couldn’t fathom how he had managed to survive so long without this. Music was definitely the greatest human achievement. They only had to touch a few buttons or pluck at a few strings to produce such enchanting sounds! He didn’t understand everything Frank and Ray were singing, but it was so beautiful! And then there were the black shiny discs they put on a spinning plate, so that they could hear even more music, even though nobody was playing. Some David Bowie guy, a group of people named Iron something and a band called Rush. He loved all of it and stared longingly at the dozens of boxes filled with more of those vinyls.

Before they left, Bob cleared his throat and murmured: “I didn’t get a chance to say this yesterday, so… I’m sorry. I was an ass to you, you didn’t deserve that.” Gerard managed a smile and a nod of recognition. He got it, he really did. Bob had only tried to look out for Frank, even if he had carried it to excess. If their roles were reversed, Gerard probably would have been more than suspicious of him, too. When it was time to say goodbye, Ray gave him a hug and murmured that it had been an honor to meet him. For once Gerard was glad that he didn’t have to find words to respond, his throat had closed up anyway and he had to blink a few times before his vision cleared again. Ray could have been an amazing friend. Maybe Bob as well, now that they had gotten over their initial animosity. Life just wasn’t fair.

 

~~~

 

About an hour later the sun started to set. Gerard and Frank were sitting on a blanket on the beach, surrounded by various containers of food and bags of snacks. Gerard had tried all of them and finally settled on pizza, which was a close runner-up after music and coffee when it came to brilliant human inventions. The sun was already disappearing behind the houses in their back, but Mikey still wasn’t there and Gerard was becoming restless. Had his brother been delayed somehow? What if their father had attacked him again? What if he had run into a shark? He didn’t even want to imagine it.

Frank looked at Gerard and sighed at the way the setting sun set his bright red hair aflame. How was he supposed to move on from this? He had only met him two days ago, but the guy had rocked his entire world since then. And there was one thing he really wanted to do before the end (he still refused to think about how exactly said end would come along). “Can I kiss you? Just one last time”, he asked quietly, not daring to meet the merman’s eyes. ‘You don’t have to’, Gerard wrote in the sand once he had overcome his surprise. Frank smiled sadly. “But I want to”, he said and could feel the blood rush to his face.

 

It felt just as amazing as the last time, almost too perfect, as if they were made for each other, which made it so much harder to accept that it couldn’t last. Frank gently sucked on his soft bottom lip and slipped his tongue into Gerard’s mouth when he opened his lips a little. Gerard jumped at the intrusion, but met it tentatively. What had started as a chaste, closed-mouth kiss quickly turned dirty and by the time it ended, Frank’s jeans were uncomfortably tight. Judging by the way Gerard looked down on himself in confusion he wasn’t the only one affected.

 

Gerard struggled to catch his breath. He was lightheaded, but couldn’t tell whether it was because of the kiss or because there were only a few beams of sunlight peeking through the rows of houses behind them. It had been mind-blowing, there was no other word for it, his body was tingling all over, as if Frank had just brought it to life for real. The irony of it all wasn’t lost on him.

 

Suddenly there was a sputtering and coughing nearby, accompanied by a very familiar voice cursing incessantly. Gerard scrambled to his feet and circled the rock, that obscured his view.

 

He couldn't believe what he saw. Dallon was dragging a naked boy onto the sand. He was skinny, his hair was long and blonde on top and darker on the shorter sides. The guy was still clutching that cursed shell to his chest and Gerard’s heart stopped when he looked up with hazel eyes so similar to his. Gerard fell to his knees and hugged him close, he would have known his brother anywhere. He didn’t care about the water drenching his clothes, all he could think of was that Mikey would be dead in only two days. Why the fuck had Dallon let him do this?!

 

Mikey clung to him for dear life. There was so much Gerard wanted to say to him and the fact that he physically couldn’t hurt worse than anything else. He closed his eyes when the last bit of sunlight disappeared. This time the vertigo was definitely a result of the spell. Breathing was becoming harder and harder and his heart was stuttering in his chest. So this was it. He looked at Frank one last time. In another life they could have been great together. He wished him all the happiness in the world.

 

Suddenly Gerard sucked in a huge breath and tensed up when a tingling warmth and a golden glow spread over his skin from where his brother's lips were pressed against his bare neck.

 

Only then did Gerard understand what Mikey had risked for him and that it had never been said what kind of love it had to be. Apparently merpeople could love after all, of course they could. He loved his little brother more than anything else. Gerard pulled back to kiss Mikey’s forehead. His heart was overflowing with gratitude, adoration and admiration for so much blind trust and courage. They would be okay. “You’re a genius, little bro”, he whispered against his brother’s skin. Mikey coughed again and buried his face in Gerard’s t-shirt. “Did you really think I’d let you die up here, you fucking moron?!”, he groaned, his voice hoarse and his eyes watering from the coughing fit. Gerard smiled bashfully, still struggling to wrap his head around it all.

 

He helped his brother out of the water and exchanged a quick hug with Dallon, who looked completely exhausted. Mikey laid in the sand, wriggling his toes, inspecting his fingernails and pulling his hair in front of his eyes to get a proper look at it. Before Gerard could sit down beside him, Frank threw his arms around his neck and kissed him with just as much passion as before. He still couldn't get enough of it. “Are you okay?”, his human asked him when they separated. Gerard beamed at him, incredibly happy that he could finally answer with words. “Yeah, I think so”, he said confidently. Something told him that everything was gonna be alright.

 

They picked up the remains of their meal (Dallon horked down most of it) and wrapped the blanket around Mikey’s shoulders. The elder merman made them promise to come visit him (“And don’t forget to bring coffee and oreos!”) and hugged them all goodbye before he made for his cave again. With combined efforts they got Mikey into the backseat of Frank’s car. Frank buckled him in while Gerard walked around to the other side and whispered: “Thank you. I can’t even tell you how happy I am that you’re both still here.” The boy smiled at him and said: “He loves you, you know? Maybe not enough for the spell to be broken, but he will eventually. Just promise me that you won’t hurt him.” Frank smiled back, murmuring a quick “I promise”, just in time before Gerard figured out how to open the door.

The drive home was quiet once again, but this time it was a peaceful silence. Frank watched the brothers in the rear mirror and smiled to himself. Mikey had curled up into Gerard’s side, who was sitting in the middle and caressing his hair.

 

Frank had long since learned that second chances were rare.

 

He wasn’t gonna blow this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone, who made it through. I will love you forever if you leave me a comment <3


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